You can have it if you can afford it: A beautiful five-bedroom, stone home that is advertised to “easily accommodate fourteen family members.” Located in Danbury CT, this 4,000 square foot home with oversized windows and a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace is definitely appealing. But, even with all that, you may wonder why it is on the market for $2.7 million. The answer: it is located on Candlewood lake.
At 5,420 square acres, Candlewood Lake is the largest manmade lake in CT. With over 60 miles of shoreline, this lake has been a recreation magnet and created some of the most expensive real estate in the area. But it wasn’t created for the real estate value, it was created to be a source for electricity.
The lake was constructed between 1926 and 1928. Six thousand acres of land in five towns had to be purchased from farm owners. One thousand, four hundred men were hired to clear out the valley of four thousand, five hundred acres of trees. Six cemeteries worth of coffins had to be dug up and thirty-five families needed to be relocated. After the hydroelectric dam was built, 7.5 billion gallons of water were pumped up from the Housatonic river to create this major water feature. It changed everything. Average land became prime real estate.
When CT Power and Light launched the project, it was largest of its kind and quite different from the typical reservoir:
Similar to a giant battery, its main purpose is to store water during periods of low electrical demand for power generation when demand is high. Excess electricity from the valley’s hydro-system is used to pump water up a hillside into the lake from the nearby Housatonic River during spring, and overnight hours in summer. The water is then allowed to flow back down into the river when extra electricity is needed in the grid, often during the region’s mid-to-late summer heat waves. (Wikipedia)
Man has gone to great lengths to create dams and reservoirs, like Candlewood Lake, all over the world. Driven by the need for electricity and massive quantities of water, mankind has built some of the biggest man-made structures on the planet. The survival of a populated earth demands these great water sources. Now water gates all over the world regulate the flow of water and electricity to the people they serve.
In much the same way, mankind’s spiritual survival is dependent on another source for survival: God’s love and power. Our God is an inexhaustible reservoir. He has ordained gates and channels by which he can flood our lives. He flows through His Word. He flows through people who love and serve Him by ministering to others. He flows through churches who let people know about this tremendous life source. He is the source of salvation joy, peace, healing and wholeness. When God flows into someone’s life, it changes everything.